


Point Blank

by Cultivation



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Gen, Heavy Angst, Spoilers, They really wanted us to believe that ending was for the better huh?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:14:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28158144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cultivation/pseuds/Cultivation
Summary: Before he knows it, he hears the buzz of ignition.A blue lightsaber hovers above him. There was once a time, not too long ago, where the Darksaber had been held to him in the same way; its threat is clear… life or death.
Comments: 11
Kudos: 62





	Point Blank

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for The Rescue and the rest of season two.

Grogu stands upon the remains, away from the temple. He came here to seek out what the Unifying Force had told him; a seismic incident just on the horizon, the brink of occurrence. He could feel it ripple and build, just as he had on Coruscant. No one could listen then... but maybe Master Luke could listen now. It was merely happenstance that the Force led him to the rubble and that the temple from which he came was stricken ablaze by a jet of lightning. He was too late.

Before he knows it, he hears the buzz of ignition.

A blue lightsaber hovers above him. There was once a time, not too long ago, where the Darksaber had been held to him in the same way; its threat is clear… life or death.

The Mandalorian was promised protection for him here— traded his faith and beliefs for his own life— yet, now, he is in danger. Perhaps preventing such an occurrence is what brings it to happen. Perhaps, this is the cycle of all Jedi. Death and rebirth— ended with violence, awoken with understanding.

Grogu sees the boy, Luke’s apprentice. He is a man but a boy in his heart and comprehension. Age means nothing in the face of desolation. The sadness and pain of a Jedi echo strongly. All around, the ruins of the temple alit reflect the same burning turmoil within him. He can feel the darkness coiling around the boy, the claw of someone much more powerful calling to him— twisting his mind with falsified kindness and supplying his starvation with affection. 

While he cannot speak quite yet, Grogu has learned to voice through his thoughts. He can feel the conflict in the boy. This is not the same as the purge on Coruscant. There, the Jedi Killer harbored no conflict— had found resolution in darkness, a panacea in the fear and anger. Then, the Jedi Order had suffered a great loss and a great betrayal all at once. Here, there was no time for the Jedi within the academy to recognize the boy’s treachery.

Grogu’s eyes flutter shut and he reaches out his hand. The Force aids him and, without words, shows him their shared master’s betrayal. Luke’s saber held above the boy, the apprentice’s fear, and the confirmation of what the dark whisperer spoke in his head. The memories shift towards flashes: a father’s smile, a mother’s love, and an inescapable feeling budding beyond his control. 

“Get— get out of my head.” It is a whimper, akin to the pleas of the Mandalorian during his brush with death on Nevarro. There is no nurse droid in the rubble to save the boy, nor could anything— droid or otherwise— save him from himself. Grogu agrees to his quiet demand. But, despite it, the boy doesn’t stop asking. “Get out, get out, get out—” His hands clutch his hair, hard enough to bleed, as he falls to his knees. “Please—”

The whisperer’s presence fades quickly. His shadow no longer looms over the boy, yet the conflict— the darkness— remains. The apprentice's hands fall to his sides. Smoke billows alongside the fire. The flickering flames behind them do not provide warmth; Grogu can only feel the deepening freeze inside the boy's mind, seeping outward and attempting to reconcile what he has done. The apprentice’s gaze flickers to the burning temple.

Unlike the fallen Jedi of old who struck down younglings without mercy, Luke’s apprentice— his family, if he remembers correctly— is ridden by guilt at the inferno in the distance. The boy still maintains a consciousness, a predilection for hope, peace, and goodness. If only the darkness hadn’t taken ahold. If only Grogu could voice this conflict to the Jedi who will find the temple ablaze.

If only Master Skywalker was stronger.

“What have I done?” Voice low and small, the apprentice cannot take his eyes away from the raging fire. He lowers and disengages his saber, stepping backward shakily. “No— no, I didn’t mean it.” He almost trips in the rubble behind him. The boy turns to face the rubble of his shack, his face grows hot, and his eyes water with tears. “He’s— he’s gone. They're all _gone_. This is— this is my fault.”

The shadow returns, as if he never left at all. Grogu senses something beyond that, a duality to the shadow. The figure does not align with the same shape as the reflection; his shadow doesn’t match his true appearance. This unsettles him and he coos quietly. Whoever the whisperer is, he is hiding from even who he manipulates. The apprentice shakes his head, heeding words Grogu cannot.

“No, it was _him_.”

In the sky above, a ship enters the smoky atmosphere from hyperspace. The apprentice’s eyes shift away from the rubble and back to Grogu. The reddened clouds from before swell into a great storm in his eyes. His feelings shift— regret boils into a powerful rage, simmering over and glowing with thunder. He eyes the boy and the boy eyes him. 

In the space that lingers between them, the apprentice stands reassured of his deeds by the whisperer. He looks unlike himself, dark circles marking beneath his eyes and fury overcoming reason. He peers with glassy, blank emptiness hidden beneath a layer of suspicion. Emotions blur together in an ugly mass, rearing their head and pulling the inner darkness within to the surface. Finally, the boy’s face grows recognizable to Grogu; the Jedi killer has been reborn.

And Grogu... he has seen too much.

There’s a blur of light and motion with the reignition of his saber. 

It’s a grim, surreal realization of what he can never have— what he can never experience. The Mandalorian has yet to return to him as he promised he would. He may never know the destruction, the death, or the cause. But he will mourn him, just as Grogu mourns him and the chance. The whisperer has risen to power, as if he never truly lost it at all, and shrouds himself in the shadow as a guise for his return. He will prevail… 

There is no point in stopping it; it is just as he had foreseen, just as the Force desires. There is still respite to be had. A beacon of light and hope, tethered to the boy and his power in the Force, will come. This will lead somewhere good— a cycle of dark enveloping light and light enveloping dark. And the Force will take him away somewhere good, among those he lost so long ago.

The boy raises his saber and the Force wraps Grogu in a blanket warmer than he has ever felt— warmer than even the Mandalorian’s embrace.

**Author's Note:**

> I am so sorry.


End file.
